Album Review: James Sullivan - "Light Years"

 

James Sullivan is a former guitarist with the Role Models as well as being the frontman with More Kicks who were regulars on the London power-pop circuit a couple of years ago. This is his first solo album and, as with a few other efforts we've reviewed of late, was written and recorded during the lockdown amid an uncertain future for touring musicians. Sullivan set himself the task of writing a song a day for ten days and Light Years is the result.

There's an endearing Television Personalities style lo-fi quirkiness to this album from the spoken word opener Lea Bridge giving way to the gentle Frank Turner style acoustics of It Won't Do You Harm and the rough around the edges power pop of Keep Your Heart Alive. Getaway is propelled along by rumbling bass and a drum machine before the acoustic led Guided and the gentle piano ballad Up To My Neck Again show that this is an album where the curveballs just keep coming.

The lockdown frustration of Totally Bored comes across like a mix of early Soul Asylum at their scuzziest and the Stooges before Man In Black strips things back completely for a beautiful skeletal acoustic lament. Get Our Sense Away has an odd late '90s Camden indie post-Britpop vibe about it before another gentle affecting acoustic number in Cruel Trick To Play. In The End has a gentle '60s Beatlesy vibe to it before a weird lo-fi cover of the Proclaimers' Then I Met You finishes things off in a bit of an anticlimax - it's not a bad song but just feels a bit superfluous here.

Hands up, I wasn't really sure what to expect of this album going in but I was really impressed by it - considering it was basically recorded on a shoestring, it's a supremely tuneful collection of lo-fi songs which show off Sullivan's skill as a lyricist and a songsmith - certainly the sheer variety of stuff on here is impressive and there genuinely isn't a weak track here. Certainly one of the more unexpected treats I've had the pleasure of reviewing in this webzine recently.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Garbage Days Revisited #67: Jason & The Scorchers - "Still Standing" (1986)

Image
  "And though you are so far away, ten thousand miles of sorrow/This prison cannot, will not kill our blessed free tomorrow"  - Jason & The Scorchers  - Good Things Come To Those Who Wait Like a lot of Britrockers my age, it's probably Ginger Wildheart 's fault that I became a Jason & The Scorchers fan. They're a band who the G-man has never made any secret of his admiration for and the Wildhearts even covered the Scorchers classic White Lies  as a B-side to Anthem  many years ago. Most people who've heard them will happily tell you that the group's 1983 EP Fervor  and their 1985 debut full length*  Lost & Found  are classics of the cowpunk genre, the perfect missing link between Johnny Cash and the Ramones and you can add me to that list as well. The follow-up, 1986's Still Standing though? Now that one seems to be a bit more divisive. And that's why it's the one we're covering here on Garbage Days Revisited... (* - well, sort
Read more

Album Review: Steve Vincent - "Recovered From My Past"

Image
  Best known as the frontman of Brit sleaze perennials Paradise Alley, this is the first solo album from Steve Vincent. I have to be honest, Steve's day job band are one of those who I've heard of but don't recall hearing anything by but the general signs here appeared to be promising with a guest list including the Wildhearts' Danny McCormack, ex-Dolls and current Mike Monroe guitarist Steve Conte and McCormack's old Main Grains bandmate (along with several others) Ben Marsden. The first thing to be aware of here though is that if you're expecting a Soho sleaze by numbers affair then you might just be in for a bit of a surprise. If anything, Recovered From My Past  sails closer to the shores of power pop or the vintage strain of '80s Brit-glam (the Babysitters, Soho Roses, Torme, Marionette etc) with a healthy dash of early Hanoi Rocks in there as well. Certainly the harmonica honking likes of Yesterday's Man , Last Train To Babylon  and Can't Bring
Read more

Album Review: The Wannabes - "Monster Beach"

Image
The Wannabes are the musical brainchild of Nottingham resident Wayne Zenith and from looking at the guy's  Bandcamp page , I think it's fair to say he's a somewhat prolific feller with over 50 releases under various incarnations on there. Musically, as the title and artwork probably suggest, it's pretty straightforward Ramones style three-chord headbanger territory (including a competent cover of Rockaway Beach ) with a touch of the Cramps' gleefully sicko gorehound tendencies as songs with titles such as I Was There At The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Stuff Cindy In The Incinerator  suggest. There's a few little tricks in there to ensure this doesn't fall into one trick pony territory though with the keyboards over the top actually adding a bit of a '60s Nuggets  style feel to some of the songs especially opener Somehow  which even has an extended piano-led break in the middle - brave move but it works. The more moody mid-paced Drag You Down  (whic
Read more